Matamatcher.org

I am not so super active here since I prefer a German forum, but here is something which might be worth your attention:

During my last vacation I did attend a presentation on Mantas and current research activities to spread and migration of these animals. There is also a project and an associated website, for which I would like to make some publicity here:

www.mantamatcher.org

Each manta has a pattern of black spots on its belly, with which it can be uniquely identified. Matamatcher collects relevant photos of Mantas (Belly Shots) with the information when and where this photo was taken. Can you identify the same Manta on several photos , so you can say something about his movement in the sea. The more you know about Mantas generally, the better you can protect them, and know how to protect them best. It is, of course, the more pictures, the better. And now we come into the game. The mostly volunteer researchers can take of course only a limited number of pictures. But where will be much more images of mantas on the hard drives of various underwater photographers. So, if somebody here has suitable images, please feel free to upload them to Manta Matcher. No prize winning images are required. Just the belly should be clearly visible.

I think this is a really useful contribution underwater photographers can make to explore and to protect the manta rays.

After some time I have got an update from mantamatcher saying that one of "my" mantas has been identified. Now there is a documentation that this manta has been seen at Nusa Penida, Bali from 2013 till 2016: http://mantamatcher....mber=INNLP0195A